A30-year-old man, who hired a qualified physiotherapist to kill husband of his childhood love by injecting him with a poisonous substance in order to marry her, has been arrested for the murder. The arrested accused, Anish Yadav, had paid Rs 1.5 lakh to the contract killer identified as Prem Kumar (27) for carrying out the job, police said on Monday.
According police, the crime, the first of its kind in the city, took place in North Delhi’s Sadar Bazar area around 7pm on Sunday when the victim, Ravi Kumar, a 27-year-old cashier in a private sector bank, was heading home. “When Ravi reached opposite Westend Cinema near Bara Tooti chowk, Prem attacked him with syringe, filled with deadly cocktail of Medazolam and Fortuin and Phenergan chemicals, on his neck in full public view,” said police. Soon after the attack, Ravi collapsed on the ground never to get up again. Ravi was rushed to a nearby hospital by locals. He died after battling for life for 12 hours.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Jatin Narwal said two accused — Prem Kumar (27), a qualified physiotherapist, who administered the injection and Anish Yadav, the conspirator, who hired Prem to bump off Ravi — were arrested.
During sustained interrogation, Prem confessed that he administered the injection at the instance of one Anish, neighbour of Ravi’s wife.
“Prem claimed that he was a qualified physiotherapist and was given Rs 1.5 lakh by Anish for the murder,” said Narwal
“Studying together, Anish had developed a liking for the girl. However, she got married to Ravi and Anish Yadav got married to another girl in July last year,” said the DCP.
“Unable to forget his childhood love, Anish allegedly abandoned his wife within a few months of marriage. He hatched a plan to kill Ravi so that he could marry her,” said the DCP, adding Anish hired Prem who agreed to kill Ravi by injecting him with lethal drug.
The DCP said, “Prem in his statement to the police has admitted to stealing the injection from a prominent hospital. We are verifying this fact,” he added.
Police said that they had registered a case under Sections 328 (Causing hurt by means of poison) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sadar Bazaar police station. Police said that they have converted the Section 307 into 302 (murder).